Telugu-speaking girl scores 125 in Kannada, tops state in SSLC

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Subhashini S, a student at Sri Ramakrishna Vidyaniketana Residential School in Shivamogga, was a tad disappointed when the SSLC exam results were declared in May. She missed three marks in Kannada, her first language, but scored a perfect centum in the other five subjects.

She was confident of securing the perfect score — 125 — in Kannada, too. She applied for the photocopy of the answer script after speaking to her schoolteachers.

She decided to apply for re-evaluation as there was no difference between the key answers and what she had written in the exam.

The re-evaluation result proved her right. With the perfect score in Kannada, she has become one of the toppers in the SSLC exam in Karnataka. She scored a perfect centum in English, Hindi, Social Science, Science and Mathematics.

But what makes her achievement extraordinary is the fact that she had studied in a Telugu-medium school till Class 7 in Andhra Pradesh. Her parents — Srinivasulu Reddy and Sujata — hail from Kolar. She had moved to Shivamogga to live with her grandfather, Kannappa, to study SSLC.

She chose Kannada as the first language in high school. Shobha Ramakrishna, the secretary of the school management, said scoring 125 marks in Kannada was a great achievement for a student whose medium of instruction in primary school was Telugu. Subhashini initially struggled to write the Kannada alphabets, but picked up the language in just six months with the help of teachers and a little determination.

Speaking to DH over phone, Sujata, her mother, said: “I am happy that my daughter has finally got justice. If she had obtained 625 marks last month, it would have been wonderful. Anyway, she has got the reward for hard work. She aspires to be a doctor.”

Subhashini has enrolled at Narayana Guru College in Bengaluru for first-year PUC (Science). DH News Service

He was speaking after releasing “Chakyababa”, a collection of children’s stories, written by Balakrishna Shibarla, here.

Mr. Mattu said that the writers writing children’s literature were not given the same status as the mainstream writers in Kannada. This attitude should change. It was essential to encourage writers of children’s books.

Before the advent of television, children used to grow up listening to stories told by their grandparents. Listening to such stories improved a child’s imagination and creativity.

But after the advent of television, whenever children made noise or demands, the parents switched on the television and the child was simply a passive recipient of the colourful objects that were beamed.

If not television, parents gave their mobile telephones to their children to play games. These measures did not help in the growth of intellect in the child, he said.

Emphasising on the importance of story books and children’s literature, Mr. Mattu said that story books played an important role in the development of a child. “Literature humanises people,” he said.

He said that parents encouraged the children to follow their hobbies — be it dancing, singing or others — till SSLC. But after that they wanted their children to concentrate only on education.

They did not want their children to undergo the hardship which they underwent. They wanted their children to become either doctors or engineers. They were imposing their dreams on their children, which was wrong.

Instead they should ask their children what they wanted to become and encourage them in their chosen field. This would help the former to contribute more to their chosen fields and more importantly to enjoy their work, Mr. Mattu said.

Releasing the new edition, Sushma Dinkar, principal, said the school has been cultivating among the students the habit of reading newspapers. Each room in the school’s hostel was being supplied with a newspaper.

Ms. Dinkar said the student’s edition should have the right mix of current affairs, stories, cartoons and articles that help students. G.R. Venkatesh, Regional General Manager, said The Hindu In School has been providing such content since its launch four years ago.

Ms. Dinkar and ten students launched the edition. Among the students who received the new edition was Advait, of Class 10, who started reading newspapers since joining the school three years ago.

Suhas, of Class 8, said he starts reading the newspaper from the sports pages everyday

Sitting on the pavement at Gandhinagar, 10-year-old Prasad peers attentively into a book. On closer inspection, you see it is a Mathematics textbook. He will be in Class V this year and does not waste time to catch up on the syllabus. But unlike other school-going children, Prasad has not enrolled into any summer camp for the vacations. He goes to help his father Shakarappa stitch seat covers for auto rickshaws behind Freedom Park instead."Though I ask him to spend time at home with his books, he is keen on assisting me and joins me every day. When we do not have any customers, he studies,"Shankarappa says.

Shankarappa earns an average of Rs 300 a day if he gets enough customers. When Bangalore Mirror visited Prasad's home, he offers to make us tea or coffee. He proceeds to the kitchen, which is just a partition of a 10X15 dwelling with an asbestos roof. "I know how to make coffee and tea and I can also clean the house as my mother leaves early for her work," he says before heading out to fill water as they get water only for one hour."His mother Manjula works in the housekeeping department in Jubilee International Public School. Both Prasad and his elder sister Pavithra goes to this school. The school has waived their fees. We spend only on books and uniform," Shankarappa says. Meanwhile, Prasad returns with coffee and shows us his progress report that is filled with A+ in all disciplines.

In school too, teachers are all praise for Prasad's obedience and hard work. "Though we have enough children under RTE rules, there are many more children from economically weaker sections who need help and guidance. As education is the greatest help, we encourage parents to put the children in our school. Most of these students are brilliant and hardworking. Prasad and his sister Pavithra are shining stars as they excel in all the subjects," says TV Mohan, Chairman of Jubilee International Public School.

As for Prasad, he has a set goal in sight - study well and become a Mechanical Engineer.

Friends celebrate with Ashwin Rao, who scored 99.4% in ICSE examinations, on Monday. He is the student of St Paul's English School, JP Nagar, Bengaluru. DH Photo

Bengaluru: Ashwin Rao, a student of St Paul's English School, is on cloud nine.

Flanked by his parents and grandparents, he cannot stop smiling. With a score of 99.4%, he has surpassed last year's topper Abhineet Parichha from Odisha. Ashwin has company for the first rank, sharing it with Pune's Muskan Abdullah Pathan.

His father Dwarka Rao feels it was the hard work and a little luck that helped Ashwin achieve the feat. "We were expecting 96% to 98%, but it was basically his expectations that he needed to meet. He never attended tuitions and was very focused about his exams. Various school activities helped, as it gave him some time off," said Rao, who works with automotive giant Fiat-Chrysler.

Ashwin says he gave time to all subjects, but focused on the subjects he liked. "Computer Science and Maths are my favorite subjects, so I spent a lot of time on them. I like Computer Science so much that I even wrote a Java program for tic-tac-toe during my holidays." His mother Lakshmi Rao said Ashwin holds a red belt in Kung-fu and feels he is naturally gifted to handle studies and extracurricular activities with equal aplomb. "He exceeded all expectations and we are on the moon."

Dwarka Rao, Father of Ashwin Rao: He never attended tuitions and was very focused about his exams. School activities helped, giving him some time off.